Most banks, securities firms and brokerage houses require traders to enter an impending trade on a paper ticket which is then physically delivered to back office data entry personnel for input into the firm's mainframe or personal computer upon receipt or after the trade. This ticketing system necessitates the use of position clerks and data entry personnel as intermediates between the trader and the data entry which substantially increases the cost and subjects the trade to human error. Moreover, the time lag between recording of the trade which establishes a firm trading position can cost clients substantially amounts of money, especially when trading extremely volatile stocks and bonds.
Using the latest flat panel high resolution color liquid crystal display, plasma and touch screen technologies, the present invention provides an integrated input device which permits traders to quickly enter trades, retrieve trading data and call up on-line vendor services all at the touch of a finger. Traders benefit from the speed and ease-of-use. Management benefits from the enormous improvements in risk management and utilization of the firm's capital.
By connecting traders directly to the firm's back office computer systems, the present invention provides a true, "ticketless," single entry trading system that revolutionizes the economics of trading operations. Moreover, operation costs are substantially reduced by the elimination of position clerks and data entry personnel.
This unique input device provides for a more intuitive user interface, renders typing skills obsolete, fulfills the promise of the mouse by making pointing and executing commands a reality and its compact, ergonomic design is a pleasure to operate, even for prolonged periods.
This touch screen input device is designed to integrate with most mainframe computer configurations. All the industry standard networking protocols can be built in so as to make the system fully compatible with the full range of operating systems. As such, it gives traders and primary dealers, as well as financial management, real-time access to profit and loss information and monitor risk exposure as it changes minute to minute.
The present invention also provides many additional advantages which shall become apparent as described below.